


coupled up with strangers

by imgoingtocrash



Series: Twenty-Something [4]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Found Family Feels, Gen, Jyn Erso & Bodhi Rook - Freeform, Light Angst, M/M, the gang gets closer as cassian and jyn do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-05 04:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11005746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imgoingtocrash/pseuds/imgoingtocrash
Summary: The Rogue One crew all have their own perspectives after Cassian and Jyn officially get together.OR Bodhi finds out Cassian and Jyn are together by accident, Kay is begrudgingly dragged along into friendship, Baze and Chirrut throw a little dinner party, and Cassian thinks Jyn is slightly dramatic.Chapter 4: "“From now on, I’m keeping you all to myself.” This last part she mumbles, turning and allowing him to link his arms around her waist in front of her door.He hums, considering. “As much as I might enjoy that, I think I’m now obligated to go to dinners in 5D until I die.”“They’re not a cult. You didn’t make a blood pact.”“If Chirrut starts giving more drunken religion lectures, we’ll only be a short step away.”"





	1. Bodhi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Bodhi was not prepared to see the rest of Jyn Erso physically hooked onto Cassian Andor, but that’s exactly what he gets when the interconnected mass that is their bodies stumbles another step out into the hall."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this first chapter partially written when I finished Part 3 of the series, but school stuff happened and this fic got worked on in fits and bursts whenever I could spare it the thought. I got the first two chapters done relatively quickly, but the other two took until just the last few weeks to come together. I started it with the express intention of writing at a least one non-Jyn POV fic for this verse and ended up with almost everyone of the Rogue One gang getting a chapter (Chirrut had to share with Baze. Ah, marriage.)
> 
> At the very least, my GPA thanks me. Hopefully everyone that still remembers this series exists will be happy too.
> 
> The first chapter takes place directly after the events of “i wanna lie down beside you” and the fic as a whole references all of the other works in Twenty-Something as a series, so I would suggest that you read those first.

The first time Bodhi sees Jyn and Cassian together, it’s after of a short string of events that make him feel like a giant asshole.

He wakes up on Saturday morning and tries to see if he’s going to puke. The universe does apparently give small mercies after all, as he’s in his own bed and not drooling all over Luke and Leia’s carpet.

His first step should be opening his eyes—maybe getting a glass of water—but he can feel the warmth ofsunlight drifting in through the window and he just knows how much it’s going to hurt if he lifts his head from his pillow.

He doesn’t know what time it is when he first draws himself to the level of consciousness that processes that information, but it’s at least another hour or so before he makes the effort to grope around on the dresser for his cell phone to see how screwed his sleep schedule is unless he can fix it before class on Monday.

There aren’t any regrets about choosing to go to the party last night, not really. It was a decent affair with half of the engineering department in attendance and the occasional political science major from one of Leia’s friend groups milling in between. 

There was a little gambling at some point between rounds of drinks and socialization. Enough to pay for a ride home, at least. He digs into his pocket, jeans still against his hips rather than scattered somewhere on the floor where they would normally be. There are still bills in his pocket, the amount of which he estimates without looking to be enough to take Jyn out for a greasy brunch if he can ever drag himself away from his mattress.

Overall, it was a pretty tolerable morning before he actually looked at his phone. The fact that his phone is dead doesn’t surprise him, though he doesn’t remember doing much to take it from the 50% he remembers it being at when he left the library to get a ride with Wedge instead of going home with Jyn.

Finding the charger is an ordeal of its own, the groan from his mouth at moving not helping the dull thud of his skull. God, he was right. The sun was too damn bright to look at. He burrows under his covers while his phone reboots itself with a cheery set of tones.

When he finally brings the phone to his eye-level, he can barely see the background photo of himself and Jyn smiling at the camera through the amount of notifications.

 

**[10] Missed Calls**

**[3] New Voicemails**

**[13] New Messages**

 

2 of the texts are from Wedge, asking if he’d left the party around 2 AM before apparently asking someone and immediately texting ‘Never mind.’

The rest of it is from Jyn. He feels a cool sweat stick to his skin, the cocoon of sheets that was once a safe haven suddenly restricting around his frame. _What the hell happened?_

 

Voicemail [10:15 PM]: _Hey, it’s me. I think I left my keys in the library. I need to borrow yours. Call me back. Or just tell Wedge you have to turn around. Whatever._

Voicemail [10:16 PM]: _I thought maybe you couldn’t pick up fast enough. Thought I’d try again right away. Call me._

Voicemail [10:47 PM]: _Okay, well I’ve given you like ten chances to pick up and you’re not answering my texts either, so I’m just gonna sit here until you come back. If you’re just ignoring me, I’m going to kill you when you get home. CALL ME BACK._

 

The texts are more of the same, ranging from messages simply asking him to bring his keys to messages that turn into vague threats, all of which culminate into the possibly over-dramatic text of ‘when you get home i’ll be sleeping on the doormat dying of starvation. make sure to kick me and see if i’m alive’, before finishing with a simple but poignant ‘asshole’.

It’s nice to know she’s not hurt, at least. The texts aren’t exactly comforting, however, especially considering she wasn’t on their doormat last night. He might have been drunk, but he’d like to think that he would have noticed that.

He doesn’t know where she could have gone. Clearly she didn’t have anyone to give her a ride to the Skywalkers’ and fetch him. If she couldn’t get a ride, he has no idea how she found anywhere to sleep that wasn’t a park bench. 

Oh god, what if she’s sleeping on a park bench? All because he went to a stupid party and forgot to take his phone off of silent and it died. What if she froze her ass off all night wandering around the city half asleep after giving up on him? What if she’s lying in an alley somewhere—

He’s spiraling a little. He realizes that, but it doesn’t stop his mind from going to all of the terrible places. 

 

(His mind repeats the scrapes they cut a little too short as teenagers. When he’d had to track down _Saw freakin’ Gerrera_ because her arm looked practically snapped in half from where she fell off of the fence that he _told_ her she shouldn’t try to climb, they were going to get caught, they had to figure something else out, they had to _run_ —

She walked out of the hospital and didn’t talk to him for two weeks because he called her guardian. She wouldn’t see him for a month after she found out he was applying for colleges and he suggested maybe she could bring up her grades and think about it too.

Seeing her all broken up like that…he promised himself they would stay out of trouble and made the effort to actually succeed.

And now he’s hungover and she’s god knows where.)

 

When he decides sitting around wallowing and getting no answer to his calls or the repeated variations of texts such as ‘WHERE ARE YOU I’M SO SORRY JYN WHERE ARE YOU I’LL COME GET YOU PLEASE PICK UP’ aren’t going to cut it, he unplugs the 15% of charge his phone has built up and pulls himself out of bed. The fear is cutting out the need to vomit for the most part, but he thinks the anxiety is _causing_ the nausea now, which is really not helpful at all.

He’s halfway to the door of their apartment—he’s using the couch to support his weight despite not knowing exactly where he’s going to go—when he hears it. There’s a muffled quality to it, but he recognizes the sound. Laughter. Punctuated by a few more words, accented words, just like—

He slides on the wooden floor, almost crashing his toes into the door before his hand actually encircles the knob. Maybe she stayed with Baze and Chirrut—no, they were out of town this week—but if that’s her she’s okay and if she’s _okay_ —

The hallway is empty at first, and he can feel his chest sinking back into heaviness, knows his stomach is turning upside down. The laugh is quieter this time, but a familiar boot-clad foot peeks out of the open doorway of apartment 5F. _Oh thank god_ —

Bodhi was not prepared to see the rest of Jyn Erso physically hooked onto Cassian Andor, but that’s exactly what he gets when the interconnected mass that is their bodies stumbles another step out into the hall. 

 

(He remembers meeting Cassian for the first time. If you could call their brief locking of eyes a meeting, anyway.

One day he and Jyn were both coming back from class, his hands moving around to explain the story he was telling properly while she nodded along in interest. Then suddenly she turned around and stopped. He gave her a look before he noticed that she was honest-to-god _waving_ at one of their neighbors on the way by, a soft little smile gracing her lips.

The man—a little over 2 inches taller than Bodhi himself with a stack of textbooks haphazardly being shoved into his bag—threw a smile towards Jyn accompanied by the wave of his hand towards Bodhi as he trotted to the stairs in a bit of a hurry and left them in silence.

“Continue,” Jyn stated, shoving her keys into the lock and seemingly ignoring the way his mouth was hanging open as she walked through the entryway.

“What was _that_?” he asked Jyn, because it took her months to even say hello to Baze and Chirrut in the hall despite regularly seeing them for dinner a few times a week.

“What was what?” Jyn scrunched up her brow like he was a crazy person, like that wasn’t a whole _thing_ that just happened in the hallway unlike anything he’s seen in the last five years of their friendship.

“What was what,” he mocked, pulling her into the living room and shutting the door with a single kick. “Jyn!”

“Bodhi!” She was giggling at him, had honestly laughed at his perfectly normal reaction to his well-known neighbor-pleasantries-hating roommate smiling and waving at some guy he’d only _maybe_ seen on campus sometime before now.

“Who was that?”

“Ooh, what, are you into him?” He recognized then exactly how she was going to be about it. She was going to dodge talking about it with cute jokes to try and embarrass him and throw him off. 

Since he was proficient at recognizing her tricks, he lifted his hands into the air out of frustration. “Are _you_?”

The sudden tinted pink of her cheeks wasn’t from the cold outside, and the little tug of a grin certainly wasn’t either. He smirked, lowered his arms, and pointed his finger. “Ah-hah! See?! That right there. You just did that same smile in the hallway. You never smile at our neighbors. Are you guys…?”

“No.” She buried her nose into her palm, almost as if trying to scrub off her facial expression. At the very least, he could tell she wasn’t lying. “Cassian and I are just…friends, I guess. We met during the fire alarm thing a couple of weeks ago. I told you about that. We get along, that’s all.”

He thought about letting it go, after that. If she wanted it to be more, she certainly wouldn’t be telling him. Also, it’s not like he really wanted to know anything about her sex life considering she was like his little sister. He made a compromise, leaned against the kitchen counter and let a smile spread slow and leery across his face. “ _Cassian_ , huh?”

“I hate you,” she grunted, throwing her keys in his direction. He felt them tap against his ribs as he leaned harder into the counter.)

 

Jyn’s arm is wrapped around Cassian’s neck, pulling him in for a short kiss before she shakes her head, laughing at whatever he whispers into her ear. 

“He’s worried sick, I need to go,” Jyn says, bringing Cassian in for a hug—if that doesn’t say this is more than a one night stand, he doesn’t know what else will since she’s never been a big hugger with the exception of Baze—before kissing Cassian chastely on the lips and promising to see him later.

“Holy shit,” he hears himself whisper, not meaning to interrupt the moment but unable to process the range of emotions going through him without the outburst. 

Thankfully, before he can see if either of them noticed, he scrambles backwards into the apartment, twisting the knob so that it won’t click when he slowly slides the door shut.

He makes a dash for the couch, flopping onto the upholstery and pretending to play with his phone in a way that doesn’t make it seem like he was watching her kiss their neighbor two seconds ago.

“We knew you were there,” Jyn says, somehow having entered the room without making a sound. He twists sharply, looking at her from over the back of the couch in order to gauge how much bodily harm she wants to inflict on him for the events of the past 24 hours.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he mumbles, expecting the worst but hoping for the best. “I didn’t mean to leave you stranded last night either. I’ll never put my phone on silent again, I swear.”

Jyn simply sighs, taking off her shoes and padding over to the couch. She sits down heavily at his side, leaning her head on his shoulder. He thinks she might even be described as content. “It’s okay.”

“I, um.” He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the crumpled bills from earlier in the morning. It’s two $20 bills. A little worse for wear, but acceptable. “I apparently kicked ass at poker last night. I thought we could go to brunch, maybe? We could invite…I want to meet Cassian. Officially, I mean. Does that sound dumb?”

“No,” she says, patting his chest lightly with her palm. “But you calling it _brunch_ definitely does.”

“What _else_ would you—!”

“Doesn’t matter.” She shakes her head against his shoulder. “I’ll ask. Ooo, we can invite Kay. Maybe he’ll hate you more than me.”

“Not sure that’s possible,” he mumbles, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and tugging her a little closer into his side. “I’m pretty lovable, Jyn.”

Jyn huffs, but there’s no real heat behind it. “You’re alright, I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ran away with the brotp of it all in this chapter. It was supposed to be this tiny little thing and it just exploded into something very sentimental about halfway through. I love it though. It kept the original concept (Bodhi, worried about what happened to Jyn, leaves the apartment and catches Jyn and Cassian saying goodbye after their make-out session the night before) and added some more depth and backstory to Bodhi and Jyn’s friendship.
> 
> As the summary suggests, the other POVs in this story include: Chapter 2 - Kay, Chapter 3 - Baze (and Chirrut), Chapter 4 - Cassian. 
> 
> Everything is pre-written and just needs editing and touching up to publish here, so all I can say about updates is that they will likely (hopefully) be fairly quick. Especially considering there are only four chapters.


	2. Kay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Kay’s not exactly sure how he winds up at the Cantina for the umpteenth Saturday afternoon in a row. He just knows that it is one hundred percent, without a trace of doubt, Jyn Erso’s doing."

Kay’s not exactly sure how he winds up at the Cantina for the umpteenth Saturday afternoon in a row. He just knows that it is one hundred percent, without a trace of doubt, Jyn Erso’s doing.

That first occasion was, at first, incredibly awkward. 

Kay himself had plenty of experience with that emotion, and was partially thankful that he and this grouping of people would likely never interact again. Cassian was fine of course. Bodhi was a little jumpy, but what words he had spoken were kind. Also, he didn’t mind taking chances to get a rise out of Jyn when the opportunity arose, which Kay immensely enjoyed. In contrast, Kay spent most of that first few minutes in the booth’s awkward silence looking between Cassian and Jyn across the table in the hopes that it would somehow set the the period of his life before he came home to them cuddling on his couch back into place.

But then Bodhi had inquired if it would be a good or bad idea to drink more as a cure to his present hangover that the scrambled eggs on his plate seemed to only slightly improve. This led to if it was worth it to go to the closest corner store and get said liquor at such an early hour. Finally, that led to the slightly heated debate about what alcohol was best mixed with orange juice that consumed the rest of their shared morning.

Since then, he’d been half-dragged out of his apartment, into his SUV, and towards the Cantina around noon every single Saturday.

Currently, he’s watching Jyn nonchalantly steal bacon from both Cassian and Bodhi’s plates as they go back and forth about whose English professor is the worst. Bodhi doesn’t seem to realize what Jyn’s doing, animatedly waving his arms around to emphasize his professor’s terrible behavior and giving her numerous opportunities as his attention diverts around the table. Cassian has glanced at her pointedly at least three times while actively listening to Bodhi, but he seems to consider arguing with her about food sharing a lost cause as he slides his plate a little closer to Jyn while eating his omelette. Kay stares at her the entire time, particularly when she uses the pilfered bacon as a spoon to scoop up the dregs of syrup on her plate.

Children. He’s spending his time with children. He looks to Cassian, almost pleading for sympathy. It’s all his fault that they’re here. Cassian walked over to the person Kay had affectionately been referring to as “the rude drunk girl from 5B” and offered her his jacket of all things. Despite her continued behavior towards Kay, Cassian started dating that same girl. 

 

(He caught them making out this morning. Jyn was half-naked, sitting on the counter—their _counter_ —bracketing Cassian with her thighs.

He had meaningfully interrupted with a short joke, as drastic times called for. 

“Oh look, she’s finally tall enough to ride the big girl roller coasters,” he’d mumbled, going for the coffee pot and begging the universe that at some point she would no longer be there to insult.

“I think your robot needs to recharge his batteries,” Jyn replied, tugging Cassian a little closer, likely just to continue rubbing his nose in the very thing he’d constantly been asking not to be privy to. “His joke-making subroutine seems to be malfunctioning this morning.”

“First of all, most robots wouldn’t even have—“ Kay started, only to realize Cassian was laughing into Jyn’s shoulder, the traitor. He told Cassian as much as he turned to go back to his room, keeping to himself the multitude of reasons Jyn’s joke wasn’t really that funny, since he actually understood something about robots unlike _some people_.

“Sorry Kay,” Cassian said to his back, but he could tell from his friend’s tone that it was a half-hearted apology.)

 

No amount of breakfast food—even with Bodhi as the benefactor—is worth having to see Jyn wearing Cassian’s shirt on top of the place where they make food. Really, if those two would keep it quiet and far away from Kay’s peripheral vision, he might actually think they were some approximation of cute together.

Cassian’s only response to Kay’s look is a short shrug, smiling and looking away to dodge as Jyn makes a warning jab towards his facial hair with a syrup-sticky finger. He laughs out “Jyn!” when she herds him closer against the restaurant’s window.

They’re absolutely sickening. He doesn’t know exactly what in this world he would describe as cute, but it certainly will not be them.

“So,” Bodhi interjects, stopping the play-fight before it can actually begin in earnest.

He would say Bodhi directs their attention because he’s thinking the same annoyed thoughts as Kay himself, but the look in the man’s eyes is a little more wide-eyed than anything else. Jyn is like Bodhi’s sister much like Cassian is akin to Kay’s brother. The only difference is that Bodhi seems to think their meeting is the best thing that has ever happened, while Kay seems to spend more time lamenting about their continued relationship than anything else.

Jyn abandons her fight then, shoving the syrupy finger into her mouth and giving Bodhi her full attention as she leans back against Cassian’s arm over the booth-seat. Kay briefly wonders how Bodhi of all people commands that kind of attention, but he also thinks a lot of Bodhi and recognizes that he’s well-liked around the campus by similarly well-liked people. People like Luke Skywalker and his crowd, for example. Not to mention the vast majority of the engineering department. 

Part of that appeal towards others is probably that Bodhi was polite in his interruption where Kay probably would’ve told the couple to sit outside in the car until they could return and interact in public with the other adults.

“I saw Baze and Chirrut last night,” Bodhi says, briefly fiddling with his fork and giving a short glare at Jyn when he realizes that she’s stolen some of his food. “They said we should stop by for dinner next week.”

“We always stop by for dinner,” Jyn replies, taking a sip of her coffee and shaking her knee against the underside of the table in a way that makes Kay want to snatch the beverage out of her hand. “Every week. That’s no need to be all dramatic.”

“They, um,” Bodhi slouches into his seat, suddenly looking up at Jyn rather than straight at her. “They want us to invite _everyone_. Tuesday night.”

“How did they even…?” Jyn starts, but allows the question to trail off. She shoves her head between her hands. “No, you know what, I don’t think we’ll ever know how that blind man became so damn perceptive.”

“Maybe he’s actually Daredevil?” Bodhi weakly supplies, obviously wishing the current conversation wasn’t happening either.

“Chirrut Imwe’s blindness did not occur from a chemical spill—“ Kay starts, even though he sees Cassian’s interruption coming before he gets the first word out.

“Wait, wait. By _everyone_ , you mean…?” Cassian points to himself, then slowly looks towards Kay. “We barely know them.”

“And by barely,” Kay interjects. “He means that Mr. Malbus once grunted in our direction on the stairs about two weeks ago.” It was a mostly forgettable experience except for the fact that it had occurred at all. They’d both heard of their older neighbors across the hall, more Cassian from Jyn than Kay himself, but they’d never actually garnered attention from either men until that oddly warm Wednesday afternoon.

“Sadly,” Jyn almost growls, the up and town twitch of her leg growing noticeably more audible against the diner’s tile flooring. “This isn’t about you.”

Cassian simply raises an eyebrow in Bodhi’s direction.

“They found out you guys are, you know…” Bodhi waves his hand around in a few quick circles rather than actually using any of the terms like dating or boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Participating in coitus on top of our kitchen counter,” Kay supplies vindictively. He doesn’t smile, but the red that springs onto both Cassian and Jyn’s faces is undeniably a worthy reason to.

“We were _not_ —“ Jyn glares at him from under her lashes, arms tightly crossed over her chest as if he hadn’t seen her half dressed just this morning. 

“Kay!” Cassian and Bodhi both say it at the same time. Cassian’s call is his usual admonishment at anything he deems “inappropriate social commentary”. Bodhi’s sounds a bit more like betrayal at having to think in such a way about Jyn.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kay replies, matter-of-fact. “Since you couldn’t stop laughing about it earlier, I assumed it was a perfectly acceptable topic of conversation—“

“ _Anyway,_ ” Bodhi interrupts, seeming seconds from slapping his hand across Kay’s mouth by the way his hand is hovering next to him. “They want to meet you. Officially, or whatever. Also Kay, ‘cause you’re roommates, I guess.”

“Which, by the way this conversation has unfolded, will go _spectacularly._ ” Jyn moans, burying her hands into her palms. “Just say you’re too busy. You’re indefinitely too busy to ever cross the threshold of that apartment.”

“Some of us actually _are_ too busy for such ridiculous wastes of time,“ Kay grumbles, but once again, his complaint goes unheard in favor of the next loud voice at the table.

“We’ll be there,” Cassian says, and every single head at the table whips up from whatever distracted direction it had previously been. 

“What?” Jyn croaks.

“S—seriously?” Bodhi stutters.

“Excuse me,” Kay’s own voice chimes in last, though it surely should have been first since he agreed to no such thing, was not consulted, wants no part in Jyn Erso’s antics in any way—

“They’re important to you,” Cassian says, ignoring what is surely Kay’s jaw visibly tightening at being further ignored. He instead looks at Jyn, moving his hand to rest on her lap under the table. “Both of you,” He continues, changing his gaze to Bodhi.

“You don’t know what you’re offering,” Jyn spits out, seemingly kicked from uncomfortable straight into her own icy version of anxious, pushing him away. “You haven’t met them. You don’t know—“

“Jyn,” Cassian almost chuckles, turning as much as he can towards Jyn, his lanky body lacking space in the cramped diner booth. “I know that they care about you, enough to want to meet your friends. And despite how much you may not like admitting it, you care about them too. Enough that you’re nervous about what they’ll think. So we’ll get it over with.”

Jyn picks at a loose fingernail, quickly taking it between her teeth, muffling her speech. “I always forget how creepy it is when you read people like that.”

“I think he keeps forgetting what the word ‘we’ implies,” Kay huffs, crossing his arms in a way that reminds him of Jyn far too much. So be it. He’ll take his turn as the impudent brat of the group.

“Kay,” Cassian says, like that’s supposed to mean something, his name just said in the right tone of voice.

“Cassian.” Kay simply tilts his head down, prepared to wait the silence out. He swears that half of their conversations never actually reach the point of raising decibel levels because of their gazes locking in opposition just like this.

“Jyn and I will only hang out together in her apartment. For a week,” Cassian offers, his elbows moving to rest on the parts of the table not covered in half-eaten plates of food. His face turns into an unreadable mask. Kay predicted this, and he’s come prepared with terms within the last 10 seconds.

“Forever.”

“Two weeks.”

“Forever, until the sun explodes and destroys us all.”

“A month,” Jyn counters, rolling her eyes. “He’ll only come around without me. I won’t sleep over there, we won’t study together there, any of it. As to not scar poor Bodhi, we’ll even keep anything we do that passes PG just to my bedroom.” She tacks the last part on with a nod in Bodhi’s direction, to which the man clamps his hands together towards the heavens dramatically.

“I don’t see why you can’t normally do that,” Kay replies, taking a moment to calculate how much he can get done in a month without having to worry about catching them in untoward positions. “Deal.”

“Tuesday at seven, then.” Bodhi smiles, but his look towards Jyn looks about as nervous as she’s clearly been feeling since this plan was introduced. “I’ll let them know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a little too much fun writing Kay this chapter, but I regret nothing. I loved the dynamics that kept cropping up. Particularly that the only reason Jyn and Cassian specifically have so much PDA around Kay is because Kay is so vocal about how much it bugs him. Similarly, it doesn’t actually bug him so much except for the fact that they’re purposefully doing it to piss him off. True friendship, folks!


	3. Baze (and Chirrut)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Baze Malbus never considered himself a father figure to either of the young adults often present in his home. (The fact that his home has become a gathering place at all for young adults with their own apartments is something he still doesn’t understand.) However, for some reason, Baze has had the errant thought that if one of them ever did bring someone home he would have the urge to be intimidating in place of the fathers not present.
> 
> That is not the case when he meets Cassian Andor."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, this chapter was a pain. I had always known that I wanted Baze or Chirrut to get a POV chapter in this story, but actually writing it was a struggle. Coming up with a little more of their backstory for this verse was helpful, even if it’s not what I’d initially thought of. I also knew I wanted the dinner party, and the little snippets of Baze’s perspective on Cassian and Jyn before an official meeting created the flow I desperately needed to get me there without having to write the entire thing out.
> 
> I previously name dropped Obi-wan Kenobi as Jyn’s history professor for fun, but then while writing this I decided to be all cute with a wink towards the actual Star Wars plot. I’ve decided he teaches one of those sort-of combo classes that counts as a History Gen Ed, but is technically taught by someone from the Religious Studies department. Just, y’know, for people that care about that kind of consistency thing.

The reason Baze doesn’t notice anything different going on with Jyn at first is that he and Chirrut were out of town when it all started.

Baze and his husband have been living at the mostly college-student populated apartment complex since they were only a little older than the students that surround them. Technically they’ve retired. Baze tells people this every time they express their surprise at seeing he or his husband still roaming the campus.

Officially, however, they’ve both been allowed adjunct professor positions whenever the mood strikes. They usually end up accepting because their retirement only successfully lasts for about two months during the summer before they’re both bored out of their minds and desperate for something to fill their time. 

 

(Chirrut also has this persistence of stealing students from the other departments to his own every year, despite the fact that he’s no longer an official student advisor. The year before poor Luke Skywalker had acquired his attention in freshman seminar. Skywalker had claimed a double-major in Engineering and Religious Studies before the semester was through. Chirrut loudly claims it to be all his influence, but Baze knows after talking to the boy that it was in fact an apparent friendship with Professor Kenobi that somehow convinced him.)

 

So, despite only overseeing a couple of freshman seminar courses and the occasional international religion class on Chirrut’s part, both Chirrut and Baze are asked to attend one of the college’s professor workshops out of town.

Baze didn’t want to attend. Both he and Chirrut were quite proficient professors without need of new-fangled teaching techniques that were advised but never technically required. Usually, Chirrut agreed with him.

“We don’t need to be in town that weekend,” Chirrut insisted at the time, knowing—almost omniscient—grin on his lips. “It will be good for everyone involved.”

“You and I are the only ones involved,” Baze grumbled dryly and rolled his eyes. “But if you insist.”

“Ah, but what about Jyn and Bodhi?” Chirrut pressed, his continued smile needlessly triumphant. It wasn’t as if Baze had ever needed much convincing when it came to his husband’s sometimes eccentric whims. He’d long ago learned it was easier to follow Chirrut’s suggestions and be more or less surprised with the outcome.

“They’ll survive.” Chirrut turned and looked at Baze without seeing him for a beat. “I’ll make them something to reheat during the week.”

Chirrut smiled pleasantly and by the next week they were planted in uncomfortable hotel room chairs listening to lectures that Baze pretended would help him shape the next generation, but he knew he would forget within the following week.

 

Baze didn’t even know who Cassian Andor _was_ until they returned. He knew of the man in the vaguest of senses. When new neighbors arrived, Chirrut was prone to intrusively creating friendships with anyone that would listen to him ramble and not fear Baze’s blank stare behind him. The one time they’d tried, neither neighbor was home, and sightings on Baze’s end were non-existent. However, Chirrut did often claim he could hear their bickering across the hall.

Bodhi mentioned something about seeing one of the occupants of 5F in passing, but he’d glossed over it when Jyn gave him an unreadable look across the dinner table and the topic was hastily dropped. (That, Baze thinks, should have been his first clue. It was most certainly Chirrut’s.)

Then, on his way to do the week’s grocery shopping on Wednesday, he caught two men entering the hall from the stairs just as he was locking the door behind him.

“Such a change this late is ill-advised, Cassian,” the taller of the two stated, brows furrowed as he looked down at his companion. “You started school later than everyone else as it is. Adding another major’s worth of coursework will only lengthen your stay here.”

“I know, Kay.” The dark-haired man that he now knew was likely the same Cassian that Bodhi had mentioned sighed. “But Draven really thinks I would benefit from it. I’ve been taking his classes as electives anyway. Plus, he’d really like someone from the program to be his TA next year. He’s teaching chemistry courses for the Criminal Justice classes. It would still be relevant experience.”

“The reason they train CSI is so that the detectives don’t have to actually do their own evidence collection.” Cassian rolled his eyes, slowly landing them in Baze’s direction as they passed.

“Hey,” Baze grunted, a bit adrift without his more talkative husband at his side, but trying to be pleasant all the same. He turned toward the staircase then, only barely hearing Cassian’s quiet, confused “Hi” in return before Kay continued their conversation and redirected the pair further down the hall and out of his hearing range.

 

The first time he did realize that there was something going on with Jyn was because he heard her laughter.

It wasn’t exactly an oddity to hear his neighbor laughing. Despite her scowls and grumbles, he found Jyn to be much like himself in some ways: hard exterior, still slightly prickly interior. Still, she was willing to let the right person in like Bodhi, Chirrut, or himself. He supposed that now included Cassian Andor.

“Cassian, stop!” Jyn yelled, and at first it was just a faint noise from the stairway that seemed to creep under their front door. She wasn’t supposed to be over for another 2 hours, but often she brought wine and chatted as they waited for Bodhi to return from class. “I’m serious!”

“Nope,” the accented voice he recognized from before replied, gaining volume along with the weighted thumps of his feet in the hall. “This is your punishment for not letting me help you on the entire walk here.”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Jyn replied, and Baze recognized her petulance through the hard wood of the door. Even if she wasn’t, she certainly wouldn’t admit it. “It’s probably just a little twisted.”

“‘Just a little’ doesn’t mean you shouldn’t rest it, Jyn.” There was a quiet moment wherein he heard the jangling of keys, then a soft thump and a curse. “What the hell!”

“Now your keys are on the floor. You have to put me down to get them.”

“I can’t believe you just punched me in the chest.”

“Chirrut works part-time at a dojo. He taught me a few things.”

“You’re kind of terrifying sometimes, you know that?” There was a second of silence. “What am I saying, of course you do.”

“Cass—“ Jyn squealed this time, her laughter punctuating her breathless pleas of “Stop!” and “You’re going to fall over!” as Cassian presumably did not put her down in pursuit of his keys.

Later, when Jyn arrived to dinner with an Ace bandage wrapped around her ankle and a story about tripping down three stairs while running to class, Baze realized that Chirrut—in the living room at the time with music on low—also likely overheard the debacle in the hall. 

“How did you get up the stairs on that thing?” he asked, his face perfectly casual, tone sympathetic. “The handicapped assistance in this building is _terrible_.”

“Oh, you know.” Jyn didn’t react but for the slight coloring of red that rose up her cheeks. “I managed.”

 

All of these events come to a head when they catch Bodhi coming home late on a Friday night. Bodhi smiles at first, used to Chirrut greeting him when their schedules collide so they can catch up between the nights they all have dinner together. His smile grows strained when Chirrut mentions inviting Cassian and Kay join them the next week, but Baze knows better than anyone that his husband is not one to be argued with when he gets stubborn.

Jyn is particularly displeased when she arrives the next Tuesday night. “Your husband is a menace,” she says flatly when he answers the door, half-consumed bottle of red wine in her hand.

“I’m aware, little sister,” he whispers, but smiles as he pulls her into a hug. He tries to put comfort and reassurance into it. He’s planned for this night since he recognized Chirrut’s invitation for what it was: meddling. Chirrut’s a terrible snoop and even worse at minding his own business with what he hears. She and Cassian already appear to be together. Baze isn’t sure what else the man thinks he’s doing for them other than torturing the already emotionally sensitive Jyn.

“She barely tolerated me even asking about how it was going with them last week,” Bodhi says, standing at the kitchen counter while wringing his hands together. Jyn and Chirrut are having some sort of stand-off on the couch in the living room. Or, to be more accurate, Jyn is glaring daggers while Chirrut smiles pleasantly, as if his blindness prevents him from knowing she’s not happy with him. “Not to mention Kay is…Kay. I don’t know why Chirrut thought this was a good idea.”

“You know how he is.” Baze shrugs. “We’re lucky he waited this long.”

Baze Malbus never considered himself a father figure to either of the young adults often present in his home. (The fact that his home has become a gathering place at all for young adults with their own apartments is something he still doesn’t understand.) However, for some reason, Baze has had the errant thought that if one of them ever did bring someone home he would have the urge to be intimidating in place of the fathers not present.

That is not the case when he meets Cassian Andor. Technically, they’ve already met, so he supposes that takes off some of the initial pressure. Not to mention that what he does know of the man are good things. He makes Jyn laugh. He studies hard in the sciences and criminal justice. He met Jyn as an angry mess in the apartment parking lot and chivalrously offered her his jacket. (The story, Jyn had told them about. The man involved, not so much.) There’s nothing much upon inspection that needs intimidating.

Baze might be willing to try it on Kay, but the man seems unflappable from his speech patterns alone.

“It’s good to finally meet you both,” Cassian says, shaking Baze’s hand once inside the door but speaking to Chirrut. “Jyn’s talked about you a lot.”

“And you not at all.” Chirrut smiles, purposefully not turning toward Jyn’s sour expression. “Not for lack of trying.”

Cassian shrugs, silently not willing to blame Jyn for her communication faults.

“Loyal and handsome,” Chirrut admonishes, taking Cassian’s hand next. “Good man.”

“You can’t even see him,” Jyn grumbles, causing Bodhi to elbow her in the ribs from his seat on the arm of the couch. 

_Be nice_ , Bodhi mouths. 

_Bite me_ , she silently replies.

“And yet, I am not wrong.” Cassian blushes at the compliment, looking down at his shoes and then anywhere but at Chirrut. In the corner of his eye, Baze thinks Jyn softens just the slightest bit, her tight grip on the couch cushion’s fabric growing slack.

“I do not know why I am here,” Kay says, leaning down to speak to Jyn and Bodhi but not making an effort to keep his words quiet.

“You’re here,” Baze answers. “Because my husband has a bleeding heart for poor young children that can’t seem to feed themselves.”

“We are not _children_ —“ Kay starts, but Cassian—seemingly recovered from his conversation with Chirrut—wraps his arm around his friend lazily.

“He is. Very needy. Can’t be trusted to use kitchen utensils without setting something on fire.” Kay physically balks, grumpily wrenching himself from Cassian’s playful grasp.

Jyn snickers, the tips of her fingers reaching out to unconsciously graze Cassian’s own. “Cassian can cook though. He’s the only one. When you two are gone, he’ll be our only source of survival.”

“Poor, disillusioned Jyn,” Chirrut tuts. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Chirrut has always had more faith than Baze himself. Somehow, despite his inclination to doubt his husband’s almost psychic predictions, Baze has a funny feeling this one in particular isn’t wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is that last line too cheesy? Probably. These kiddos deserve cheesy. After reading Rebel Rising all I wanted was to give Jyn a hug, so I guess this is the alternative. Not to mention my love of found family is well known.
> 
> The story about Jyn falling down the stairs is inspired by me being a giant klutz and doing something similar. In front of a group of prospective students, no less. While cursing up a storm. Yeah.


	4. Cassian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “From now on, I’m keeping you all to myself.” This last part she mumbles, turning and allowing him to link his arms around her waist in front of her door.
> 
> He hums, considering. “As much as I might enjoy that, I think I’m now obligated to go to dinners in 5D until I die.”
> 
> “They’re not a cult. You didn’t make a blood pact.”
> 
> “If Chirrut starts giving more drunken religion lectures, we’ll only be a short step away.”

“That was awful,” Jyn moans, short legs half tripping over his own as he pushes her ahead of him towards her apartment by the shoulders. “They’re embarrassing and terrible and I hate them.”

“They can probably still hear you,” Cassian chuckles quietly, watching as Bodhi walks ahead, presumably to get into his room and away from whatever he thinks they’re going to start despite their promise to be perfectly PG in the shared apartment space. Kay already left before anyone else, simply stating that he’d had enough. Cassian was genuinely proud that he’d made it through the entire meal without being forced out. It wouldn’t be the first occurrence.

“I hope they do!” Jyn shouts behind her, leaning back into his grip a little harder. Her shoulders fit small within his longer fingers, but the wine from dinner has them relaxed and pliant. “From now on, I’m keeping you all to myself.” This last part she mumbles, turning and allowing him to link his arms around her waist in front of her door.

He hums, considering. “As much as I might enjoy that, I think I’m now obligated to go to dinners in 5D until I die.”

“They’re not a cult. You didn’t make a blood pact.”

“If Chirrut starts giving more drunken religion lectures, we’ll only be a short step away.”

Jyn wrinkles her nose at the idea. “That’s fair.”

They’re quiet for a moment, him pressing her up against his chest and reveling in the silence after the few hours of chatter between the six of them. He can’t see her face, but he thinks they’re both smiling. The collision of their friend groups was a surprisingly successful but chaotic endeavor unlike anything Cassian has ever experienced before.

Most of his other college friend gatherings—sans hanging out with Kay—usually involved copious amounts of alcohol or caffeine. He also found himself acting more as an observer rather than an active participant. Not because he wasn’t interested or couldn’t contribute, but simply as part of who he was. He listened and took note of details, usually surprising others when he remembered them months down the line. It was how he showed that he cared, even when he wasn’t exactly the most vocal of people.

The dinner at Baze and Chirrut’s place was different. They took lead of the conversation often with their worn-in back and forth, but he found himself being drawn into speaking more frequently. He suspected at first that it might be simply because this dinner was an effort to pry into Jyn’s personal life concerning their relationship, but even Kay had gotten more invested than Cassian had seen his friend in a long time.

 

(“It’s nice to have a conversation where I’m not interrupted constantly,” Kay remarked bluntly at one point, causing Jyn to give an indignant scoff.

“You’re being dramatic,” she said, slightly muffled as she finished the dregs from her wine glass.

“I’m really not,” Kay continued. “You are all very rude.”)

 

Cassian kisses the top of Jyn’s head, detangling himself from her embrace slightly. “Let’s get inside. I’m tired.”

“Tired?” Jyn lets out a puff of breath, turning and pushing the unlocked door open. She hesitates before seeming to remember Bodhi had entered only moments before. “God, a night in with friends and you’re _tired_. Might as well turn on TV Land and get you a napping armchair.”

“Don’t be cute.” He rolls his eyes. “I’m 26, not 76. You have to admit, they were kind of exhausting.”

“I’m always cute,” Jyn replies, dodging his attempted swat at her backside in retaliation, laughing when he more accurately pokes around her ribcage. She turns around again once the front door is shut and locked, leading him to her bedroom by tugging on his shirt. “They mean well, I suppose. They just—they _care_ , you know? Not a lot of people bother to do that. Especially for people like Bodhi and I, after how awful I probably was to them in the beginning. I was still adjusting to…”

Jyn stops in front of her bedroom door, searching for the word before settling on a flick of her wrist that he assumes accounts to an all-encompassing gesture. “Trying?” he suggests.

“Something like that. I was used to it being the two of us against the world for so long. I was used to hating everyone else on principle. It’s different, having people around when things go bad.”

“Good different?” he asks, wondering if he’s searching too much, if it’s needy to want that reassurance despite hearing her basically say it. 

He’s looking down at her in the orange lamplight coming from the living room when she leans close, using her loose grip against his chest to bring their lips together. He exhales against her, wrapping his arm around her back and lazily pulling her closer.

He thinks she won’t answer, assumes that her kiss is an answer until she breaks away and cups his cheek with her hand, lightly tracing the stubble. “Good different.”

“I’m glad,” he admits, bringing his hand to cover her own. He squeezes her hand lightly and pulls it from his face, walking her backwards through the open bedroom door. He’s glad that she feels so secure. Glad that he’s somehow become someone she can trust. He wants to verbalize it better, but he’s struggling to find the right words without sounding cheesy or dramatic.

When the back of Cassian’s knees hit the front of Jyn’s mattress, he knows his window to try is getting smaller. Jyn’s door is promptly closed with a soft thump. Then she’s half in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck loosely. “So, about you being tired,” Jyn practically purrs into his ear, her knees keeping him in place on the mattress.

She presses kisses to his cheek first, grazing his stubble and jaw before moving down to his neck. Her lips and tongue are warm against his clavicle and—god, Jyn Erso is trouble. He could easily drop it, let her kisses take over his senses and relax the rest of the night away in her arms.

Instead, he uses two fingers to tilt her chin up, focusing on her confused expression instead of his body’s clear interest in their to-be-continued plans for the night. “I just wanted to say thank you,” he settles on saying, his mind racing and distracted and close to being lost in her gold-flecked irises.

“Whatever for?” she asks, brushing through part of his hair with her fingers while keeping the other arm wrapped around his neck for balance. “Most people would be running for the hills after a night like that.”

Cassian shrugs. “I know that it can be…difficult, especially for you. Letting people in your head, into your life. I didn’t have a lot of people to lean on either before I met Kay. Before I saved up and started here. It’s nice to be reminded that it’s not impossible to have family after losing my own. It’s good to have that with you, to want it again.”

He wonders if it’s too heavy for the moment, but he’s hazy and a little tipsy and her warmth pressing against him reminds him why it’s something he’s willing to admit at all. Jyn lost her parents, including her pseudo-guardian Saw, just like him. There’s a bond there: a shared form of loss that has nothing to do with how compatible they already are.

“It is,” Jyn agrees, nodding and somehow filling him with understanding and affection despite her having said very little in reply to his longer confession. She leans in to press their lips together gently again. Her next words vibrate, dull against his skull despite being whispered. “You’re _very_ nice.”

He smiles, his teeth slightly clicking against hers when they continue to trade kisses in the dark of her bedroom. She’s not drunk, but he thinks the alcohol certainly hasn’t hurt their softer, loosened lips. It makes his caress under her shirt a little more fervent, her kisses a little more sloppy and searching.

He takes their loosened hold as an opening, clutching Jyn close and rolling them onto the bed in a more vertical position. She squeals out a peal of laughter, smacking his chest and infecting him with laughter in return.

He assumes that Jyn will return to her position towered over him to continue their kisses, but instead she curls her arm around his chest and burrows in.

“What happened to you making fun of me being tired this early, hm?” Cassian gently shoves her shoulder with the arm not trapped under her weight, causing her to whine.

“I take back what I said about you being nice,” she replies, voice sleep-slurred.

“I’m glad I never said anything about you being nice,” he huffs, closing his eyes and relaxing against the pillow under his head despite still being partially buzzed from her excitable touches only moments before. “It would be a lie.”

Jyn pinches his side somewhere near his hip in retaliation. He hisses out a breath dramatically, causing her to pull him in a little tighter. “You love it.”

They haven’t said it yet, those three words. It’s only been a few months, from meeting her to befriending her to kissing her that first time on his living room couch and starting something more official. He sometimes thinks it, of admitting what he’s known for a while now, but it’s never felt like the right time and he worries that it’s too much too soon even for himself.

Her comment is not that phrase, but he thinks she knows what he would say when he replies after a beat, gently brushing his palm against her hair. “I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn’t help but give my own tweak of Jyn’s line about people being around when things go bad, but decided against giving some version of Cassian’s in-movie reply because it didn’t fit what I was going for.
> 
> I'm so happy that this fic is finally completely finished and posted. It seems like everyone still with this series (and those who I'm happy to see going back and starting it) have enjoyed this little multi-chaptered venture. I don't currently have anything else in the works for this series, but if the inspiration strikes with a good prompt or I'm in a mood, I'm happy to return to this lovely little verse. Though I may have to ditch the semi-relevant lyric titles. The song isn't that long and I'm running out, haha. I also have a little photoset for the series I'm probably going to post later this week to celebrate because they're so much fun to make.
> 
> In the meantime I've got a couple of other rebelcaptain things I need to make decisions about writing/editing/actually posting, so hopefully we can keep this wonderful ship tag semi-active despite the Rogue One Hype dying down a bit. (I have a screenshot from when I started reading fic for them...200 fics to almost 2000 is really amazing and I love y'all.)

**Author's Note:**

> All comments, kudos, and bookmarks are greatly appreciated! If you ever want to cry about stuff with me, I'm also imgoingtocrash on tumblr!


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